A new report finds basic clinical skills, such as examining a patient and taking a medical history, to be very powerful medical tools.
The study in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at more than 400 emergency room patients.
Doctors report high-tech scans only helped with diagnosis in roughly one of three cases. Patient history and a physical exam were considered most important for an accurate diagnosis.
Tests such as CT scans and ultrasounds can be costly. And there's growing concern that doctors are overusing these scans.
